Businesses and organisation in Wales can now harness the benefits of some of the most advanced computing technology in the world.

Wales has become the first country in the UK to support a supercomputing network. The project is being delivered by High Performance Computing (HPC) Wales – the company formed to manage a shared service collaboration of the universities in Wales.

The network venture enables Welsh companies and university researchers to speed up innovation by accessing the latest supercomputing technology.

Organisations and businesses in convergence funding areas in Wales – although depending on the bespoke software required – are expected to receive significant discounts.

There will also reduced rates for businesses and organisations outside of convergence areas in Wales.

Companies eligible for support in convergence areas could receive support for a number of projects, although under EU rules they would not be allowed to receive more than £160,000 of support during any consecutive two year period.

The project will also look to strike market rate commercial deals with businesses and organisations in other parts of the UK and overseas – due to the online capabilities of the project.

High performance computing technology has the capacity to handle and analyse massive amounts of data at high speed, bringing new products and services to the market faster.

The venture has been made possible with support of £24m from the Welsh Government and the Welsh European Funding Office, and £10m from the UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). The infrastructure and some services have been developed in partnership with Fujitsu, producers of the world’s fastest supercomputer.

While it will look to drive commercial revenues, the strategy will be secure a second round of European structuring funding.

It has also been confirmed that Fujitsu, technology service provider for HPC Wales, has awarded seven fully-funded studentships across the marine energy, environment and life science sectors, generating over £500,000 inward investment in Wales.

Over the next two years, they will fund a total of 20 studentships across key priority sectors in Wales.

Chief executive of HPC Wales, which has staff in Cardiff and Bangor, David Craddock, said: “HPC Wales aims to make Welsh businesses more competitive in global markets and to grow the knowledge economy as well as creating employment opportunities.

“We are delighted to announce that not only is Wales home to an enviable high performance computing network and the largest distributed network in the UK.

“Both businesses and researchers across Wales are now able to access this innovative technology and services locally, simply and securely to speed up their research processes for commercial innovation. For those companies in the EU Convergence areas we can also provide heavily discounted services.”

One Welsh firm using high performance computing to boost competitiveness is Bangor-based Knowtra, an environmental specialist offering climate and ocean consultancy, training and oceanographic computer simulations. The company is using HPC Wales to produce enhanced simulations and develop algorithms which will help drive sales and safeguard jobs.

Director of Knowtra Dr Steve Spall said: “As an SME delivering oceanographic consultancy to international projects, we rely on modern computing to undertake simulations and data processing for our clients. HPC Wales will increase the computing capacity available to our team by 100 fold, enhancing the quality of our services and underpinning our planned growth.”

Mr Craddock said: “Supercomputing can benefit any business whatever its size. It is a versatile technology that can be adapted to suit individual needs and the scope of applications is incredibly wide-ranging.

“To date the technology has primarily been used by academic researchers and large businesses but in future more SMEs will need to access the technology to attain a competitive advantage. We aim train and support them to get the most benefits from the technology.”